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OP
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In my family when anyone saw cows lying down they would say "It is going to rain." My wife from Minnesotta thought it was nonsense and just a family myth. At the time we lived in West Virginia. Now, 30 years later, we live in NC. Recently my wife and I and a friend of hers from the Pennsylvania Dutch country were driving back from Surf City NC and as we passed a heard of prone cows my wife teasingly said "the cows are lying down." To which her friend replied "It is going to rain." We were both astonished! I have e-mailed people all over the place and the only people who seem to know the expression are from Pennsylvania. Since my Grandfather was also from the Pennsylvania Dutch country, I wonder if that is the exclusive source of the expression. Any one have any ideas on this?
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Carpal Tunnel
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It's not publicized, but, did you notice that the weather forecast always gives the percent chance of rain in even multiples of 10%? You never hear that there's a one in three chance of rain. The local weather bureaus are each given 10 cows and they count the number that are lying down to determine the chance of rain. Sometimes, in the smaller market weather areas, you'll notice that it's always even multiples of 20%. Those bureaus only get five cows.
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OP
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"The local weather bureaus are each given 10 cows ... "
Where is local for you?
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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When cows have grazed enough, they lie down to ruminate.
This is happens every day, so indeed they will be seen lying down before a rain shower. But even more often when it does not shower.
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Oh I did not believe that the saying was true I just wondered how wide spread it was and where it originated.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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well, I grew up in South Dakota, Iowa and Nebraska(go Vikings!), and my family always said that. now I've been in Vermont for nearly 20 years, and it's said here, too. it's true, too!  as for Faldage's bovinity....well, what can anyone say, but: moo.
formerly known as etaoin...
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journeyman
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"Sometimes, in the smaller market weather areas, you'll notice that it's always even multiples of 20%. Those bureaus only get five cows." So is it possible that in some really large 'market weather areas' (whatever that means) they're given a hundred cows... That should enable them to predict say, a seventy-three percent chance of rain... OTOH, if in some really small market weather areas, they're given only three cows, they should be able to predict one in three chance of rain... Just wanderin'...
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Carpal Tunnel
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OTOH, in the area of Ithaca, NY, when the flying squirrels don't fly they say "it must be going to rain, the squirrels are out of nuts." [just some petty pet stuff, eh, Faldo?  ] And then sometimes these non-flying flying squirrels shanghai a residence and cause the inhabitats to muse the meteorological percentages of counting cows. But, in Ithaca, the cows usually lay down before it snows! 
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Carpal Tunnel
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Dear WO'N: the trouble with flying squirrels as weather prophets is that they are nocturnal.
I used to have a dog that could tell me when a thunderstorm was coming. He could hear it half an hour before I could. But sometimes I could hear it before he could, as static on my shortwave radio.
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A) I don't believe flying squirrels eat nuts.
2) Nope. It's ten cows, max. This is federally funded, remember. They issue five cows to the smaller markets because federally funded studies have shown that there is less weather in the smaller markets.
and
Þ) Whether there's no rain more often than there's rain depends on where you are. Here in sunny Ithaca we have a saying: If you can see Cayuga Lake it's going to rain; if you can't see Cayuga Lake it is raining.
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Carpal Tunnel
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"It must be going to rain, the squirrels are out of nuts."A) I don't believe flying squirrels eat nuts.Wasn't referring to the edible variety. And while you're at it, why don't'cha start a new alternative rock group, Counting Cows? The market's wide open!  And welcome, CarlAdler! As you can see, we can sometimes be a bit tangental, but I'm sure you'll feel right at home here with our Band of Merry Wordsters! 
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Carpal Tunnel
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"It must be going to rain, the squirrels are out of nuts."
A) I don't believe flying squirrels eat nuts.
Wasn't referring to the edible variety.
>sometimes be a bit tangental<
would that be tangenital?
formerly known as etaoin...
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Carpal Tunnel
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I heard as a child in S.E. England that cows lying down is a sign that it's going to rain. It was just one of those things that people sort of half believed like using seaweed to predict the weather or red sky at night.
Bingley
Bingley
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Carpal Tunnel
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Please, eta, if you have tan genitals, more power to ya, but. But being a Naturist is good, I have no problem with that.
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"the weather or red sky at night."
Being a somewhat inept (http://CarlAdler.org/waterlogged.html) but enthusiastic sailor I can testify that the "red sky at night sailors delight ... " is true and is based on the fact that weather moves from west to east. Even a NorthEaster comes from the west (unless it is the "Perfect Storm" which did turn around and move east to west.) What I think is interesting is the question "Who is first recorded as using this expression?" I think the answer is surprising.
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Carpal Tunnel
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nice pics, Carl! thanks for sharing!
formerly known as etaoin...
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Pooh-Bah
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red sky at night sailors delight
I've always heard it as 'red sky at night, shepherds' delight; red sky in the morning, shepherds' warning'. Doesn't answer the question, but I've heard various claims such as Shakespeare and Jesus Christ. I suspect that it is as old as man's deep interest in the weather!
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Well actually Jesus is quoted as saying that in the Gospel according to St. Mathew, of course the exact wording would depend upon the translation and he is not proffering it as new but referring to it as a well known saying. Not being a biblical expert I don't remember exactly where in the Gospel it occurs but it is there.
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old hand
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> Not being a biblical expert I don't remember exactly where in the Gospel it occurs but it is there.
Matthew 16:2,3
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It's a good thing oldtimers like me are around to set you youngsters straight!
All - that *all* - the cows have to be lying down for the forecast to be rain! Three or four of five or 10 of 12 doesn't count. *And* if you look carefully, and if they are all facing in the same direction, you can tell the storm is coming from the direction *opposite to where there heads are. IOW they put their (ahem) flanks to the wind.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Surely a cow's flanks would be 90 degrees each side of its head, assuming that it was facing forward rather than over one shoulder, that is.
Bingley
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Pooh-Bah
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flanks to the windOh, wow is *far too well brought up to use the word 'tails'.
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Pooh-Bah
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"Mare's tails and halibut scales, tall ships will set low sails." I like weather sayings but was never sure exactly what weather would delight a sailor, especially if it was supposed to delight the shepherds too.
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Mare's tails and halibut scales, tall ships will set low sails
mares tail and halibut scales, are types of clouds that ofter are seen on the trail edge of high pressure system, the begining of low... and low pressure systems usually mean comming storms.. there are several weather/cloud sights that have the 'offical' names of clouds, and the common names.. (one of the cumulius' is commonly called a 'thunderhead'-- thunder heads are pretty self evident.. they are clouds associated with thunderstorms!
mares tail are high thin, long wispy clouds.. they really look like mares tails!
and no one who works out doors is thrilled with a what we on east coast of US call a no'easter. No'easter's are not just rain (its raining yet again to day..) but storms like we had saturday last.. visibily was under 500 feet (i could barely see across the street, and could not see the building behind the car park across the street!) there was huge lightning, (my building was hit, and a dozen bricks from the parapat knocked loose.. fortunately the heavy rain had driven everyone from the street, and no one was hit..
the rain was so heavy, some lines of the subway were halted by flooding.. the rain was running down the subway stairs faster than storm drains could accomadate it, and platforms, and eventually the tracks were flooded! i wouldn't want to be at sea with a storm like that bearing down..(it was fast moving and passed in an about a half hour, but it was a wild and savage storm while it lasted!)
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Carpal Tunnel
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Nor'easters are so called for their winds, which come out of the northeast. It was Benjamin Franklin who first established that the storm itself comes out of the southwest. He did so by comparing observations of a storm that came through his Philadelphia with friends in New York City and Boston, through which the same storm came at successively later times.
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Pooh-Bah
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Mares tails do look like the name suggests. Halibut scales are those dozens of little clouds all organised that make the sky look like blue and white gingham. or um like halibut scales.
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Carpal Tunnel
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variations on the theme:
It was "mackerel scales and mares' tails" where I cum frum, and also "red sky at night, sailor's delight..."
But they meant the same thing as with halibut and shepherds.
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